The NFL’s increased push on Christmas Day continues to produce positive results in the ratings.
Monday’s Raiders-Chiefs NFL Christmas Day game averaged 29.17 million viewers across CBS (28.28 million) and Nickelodeon (893K), per Nielsen Express Nationals — the largest NFL Christmas Day audience since Bengals-Vikings on ABC In 1989 (33.06 million). , awaiting the results of two other Christmas games (Giants-Eagles on FOX, Ravens-49ers on ABC).
(Keep in mind that out-of-home viewing was not tracked for the National Finals by Nielsen until 2020, meaning that some — if not many — of the overlapping games would have averaged more viewers all things being equal.)
The Raiders’ upset win, which peaked with 37.16 million, was 13% higher than Packers-Dolphins on FOX in the same window last year (25.92 million).
Pending results for the rest of the Week 16 slate, Raiders-Chiefs delivered the fourth-largest crowd of the NFL season — trailing the two games on Thanksgiving afternoon (Washington-Dallas: 41.76 million; Lions-Packers: 33.70 million) and the Week 12 national window three days later (in Mostly Bills Eagles: 30.90 million).
Outdoor viewing is especially evident around holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, which typically feature a large number of family gatherings. For Christmas in particular, the offseason turned a holiday often overlooked by the NFL into one of its most-watched days. On the NFL’s last Christmas before the walk-off era — 2017 — the most-watched game was Steelers-Texans with just under 17 million viewers.
In 2020 — technically part of the stay-at-home era, but also a year in which family gatherings were actively discouraged — the NFL’s lone Christmas game averaged 20.94 million. In the three years since 2020, the NFL has delivered three of its five largest Christmas Day crowds, with results yet to come for the other two games on Monday.